Role of non state actors in the smart city mission

Abstract

This paper analyses the proposed smart city plan (‘The 100 smart city project’) from the viewpoint of its impact on the equitable distribution of resources and the role of non-state actors in the urban planning process.The paper proposes a framework to understand the legitimate entry points of non-state actors in policy making. Non-State actors can help the government in various domains in which they hold expertise, like Research, Analysis, Implementation, and Monitoring and Evaluation. The paper cites examples supporting this assertion.The paper, more importantly, also delves into the evolution of non-state actors in policy making over the years, their increased involvement in decision making and the issues that have therefore surfaced. The paper delineates these issues by shedding light on the journey that urban policy development has undergone in Post-independent India.This journey has resulted in many learnings and the paper analyses the current smart cities scenario in the light of whether these aforementioned learnings were incorporated in the planning process or not. We end the paper by citing an example of a smart city which has exemplified the ideal urban planning process and an aspiring smart city which lost its way in the middle.